Nurses talk about their friendship and their life during COVID 19
Describe some new friends. What do they look like? What do you like best about them?
Friday, July 31, 2020
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
Must as speculation
Many ESOL textbooks teach using must and have to for necessity
In common speech, however, we often use must when we make a logical guess.
Look how fast his English is improving! He must take English class!
Look how slow the internet is. There must be a lot of people on it.
Wow! He has very big arms. He must lift weights.
In all of these examples, must means I guess from logic, NOT it is necessary.
The grammar must ______(base verb) stays the same
I love the next song to illustrate must because when the singer sees the girl, he makes a logical guess.
She's so pretty that she must have a boyfriend.
When the girl talks, she expresses necessity.
She feels it is necessary to have a boyfriend when she goes out.
The chorus uses the same words.
Look around. What logical guesses can you make from your observations? Use "must!"
Monday, June 15, 2020
Against All Odds
Please practice English on Duolingo (a free app), and on my blogs.
Once you have been my student, you are always welcome on my blogs,
I would really like to see your comments.
Once you understand low intermediate grammar, the best way to prepare for high intermediate is to be very good at using have in present tense and memorizing a lot of irregular verbs.
Write about a time you beat the odds -- a time you did something other people didn't think you could do.
Saturday, June 13, 2020
June 13 is National Weed your garden day.
Weeds are plants that are growing where you don't want the plant to grow.
Weed/weeding is also the action of pulling unwanted plants up by their roots.
Some people call marijuana, "weed."
Poison means it will make your sick or hurt. Poison Ivy gives me a nasty rash.
Challenge Listening
I pull out poison ivy, virginia creeper, and pokeweed almost every day this time of year.
Do you have a garden? What are you growing?
Tuesday, June 2, 2020
On the turning away (Difficult content for former students)
Turning in this song is a gerund. A gerund is the ing form of a verb when we use it as a noun.
(Verbs are usually action words. Nouns are people, places, things or ideas)
Swimming is fun. Running makes me tired. Fighting doesn't solve anything. Crying helps.
A difficult goal in advanced ESOL classes is memorizing whether a verb can be followed by a gerund, an infinitive (to ____base verb) or both.
I like to swim./I like swimming are equally correct.
I enjoy swimming is correct. I enjoy to swim is wrong.
I want to go is correct. I want going is wrong.
(The sound of the word after the verb is what you need to remember.
Ing is for gerunds. To is for infinitives)
Sunday, May 31, 2020
Monday, May 25, 2020
Memorial Day 2020
At the end of the day, many military units play "Taps" at bedtime. "Taps" is often played at military funerals. It's rare to hear lyrics except in Boy Scouts. "Safely Rest" (not "Bob Good Night") is usually the last line.
Today: Memorial Day 2020
One of my students suggested the following song as a tribute to military families.
Can you find which word is not spelled correctly?
What are you doing for memorial day? (I plan to relax!!)
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